A problem with procedurals is that an episode like "Oia'i'o" will likely have few lasting consequences. Hawaii Five-0 is a procedural and as such, it will eventually return to the case of the week investigations. The major build up towards the end--McGarrett arrested for murder and Kono arrested for theft--will be resolved early in the next season. In a serialized show, this would be a game changer which is impossible to turn back from. In a procedural, this is a temporary obstacle which will be overcome.
It's hard to get any hopes up for lasting change, but "Oia'i'o" is a good episode by itself. It's subversive in the vein of 24, with the governor turning out to be in league with the bad guys on the island. I'm not sure if the logic all works out since the governor let McGarrett get awfully far in the investigation instead of shutting him down immediately when they were clearly times when she could have. But that's not really the point since the episode positions all the characters on the back foot and they'll have to come up with something in the season premiere.
What I didn't like about the episode is how it wants us to care about certain character who've had little or no impact. I don't care one bit about Laura Hills (the stuff with Chin at the beginning of the episode was dumb) and Rachel hasn't been developed enough so we have a clear idea who she is or why she cares about Danny.
Score: 8.7/10
